Men on Valentine’s Day: then and now

Each year, men and boys are left to wonder what is truly expected of them. It raises the age-old question; what do women want?

Feb.14 is recognized as Valentine’s Day in the United States. It is a time to shower loved ones with gifts that show that they are truly loved.

Each year, men are expected to do something special for their significant other; that may be the traditional bouquet of flowers and chocolate, or even a hand-written poem. It was easy in elementary school. There was nothing difficult about picking out a Valentine’s Day card and putting it in a shoebox with some heart-shaped candy. But life is now different than it was in elementary school.

No man wants to make a fool of himself by a giving a lousy gift. So some men go to great lengths on the gifts that they buy.

With the materialistic world we live in, there has never been a greater expectation for men to get the perfect gift.

But do they put that pressure on themselves?

According to Time Magazine, in 2012, the average person spent $126.03 on Valentine’s Day gifts, which was an 8.5-percent increase from the year before.

“I don’t necessarily view Valentine’s Day as a holiday like Christmas, or my birthday, but I do expect something,” said Becki Yeates, a senior studying exercise physiology. “It symbolizes a special day, where somehow a gift is expected.”

Yeates also said that a simple rose means more than an expensive gift.

Every woman might have a different opinion of Valentine’s Day, but the one common gift they expect is to be loved, and the gift of love comes from the heart.

It might only take a simple rose to bring a smile to a woman’s face. As Alma says in the Book of Mormon, “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”

This holiday has a long history. According the website www.history.com, Valentine’s Day first started when Pope Gelasius deemed it a church function back in A.D. 498.

The true nature of Saint Valentine, however, is unknown; there are only legends of who this man of love was.

According to the www.history.com, “Valentine actually sent the first ‘valentine’ greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl … who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed ‘From your Valentine,’ an expression that is still used today.”

There may not be much information on Saint Valentine, but his legacy of love has lived on through generations.